She's The Soldier
by RikkuTheBiscuit
Summary: Rikku finds a sphere of a boy who's cheerful spirit has been dampened - she soon finds herself in Midgar, and trying to disguise herself in a 3rd-Class SOLDIER uniform - is mistaken for a boy! She makes great friends, and perhaps, some new enemies too?
1. Chapter 1 : Rikku

**SHE'S THE SOLDIER**

**=1=**

**Rikku**

I tried to catch my breath as I ran up the enormous hill to Yuna's house, clutching my prize in my hand - a dress sphere. I'd never seen one like it before.

I peered into the sphere and grinned. _That boy…is really cute!_

I hopped over a pothole. He…used to be very cheery and optimistic, but…something happened to his…friend?

Wait. Friend with sense? Sensei? Oh right, it was his master. Angel?

No. Angeal.

Something was wrong, and it had to do with Angeal.

_Hmmm… _I made a face. I really needed to see if Yunie could make any sense of the sphere - my brain was so full of curiosity that it wouldn't let me think straight!

Eventually, I reached Yuna's house, out of breath, and rapped on the door.

Yuna slowly pulled open the door, still in her moogle jammies, and yawned.

"Oh g…good morning Rikku".

She rubbed her eyes. "Um, why are you here at-", she glanced over at the clock over the fireplace, "-seven in the morning?".

Why did the time matter?

I barged past her and plonked the sphere down on the table. "Because", I smiled, and gestured towards the sphere, "of this little beauty I found in an old cave just south of Macalania woods!".

Yuna put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. "And just what were you doing on that side of Spira at _seven a.m_.?".

I scoffed and flicked my hair back behind my shoulder. "Oh you know, just going on a little morning walk, get some fresh air into my lungs, y'know?"

"With a sleeping bag?".

Oops. I forgot it was still on my back. I sighed. "Oh alright, fine, I was camping out in the Thunder Plains again, okay?".

Yuna smiled. "And you got lost on the way back, _again_?"

"Okay, last time was different, I was with _Brother_, for crying out loud, and he has about as much of a sense of direction as a plank of wood".

"Not quite as bad as you though".

I let out an extremely frustrated sigh. "Can we _please _get back to the matter at hand, aka the totally awesome sphere I just found?".

Yuna carefully picked up the dress sphere by the edge of her fingers and examined it. Yuna was always way better at analyzing spheres than I was.

She tore her eyes away from the sphere for a second to look at me. "What is it of, do you know?".

I leaned over the table. "A boy. A _really _cute one!"

Yuna raised her eyebrow at me and looked at me in that looking-way. I giggled. "What?". Yuna sighed but all the same she smiled while she did.

She studied the sphere more closely, and she frowned. "Hmmm, he was very cheerful, wasn't he? But now he seems…distressed…".

I nodded. "Yeah, he's worried about someone called Angeal - I think this Angeal person is like, his master or something".

Yuna set the sphere back on the table. I rested my hands on the table. "Do you think it means anything? I mean, do you think we should so something about it?".

Yuna sat back in her chair and folded her arms. "Well I suppose, but what exactly could we do? We don't know who this boy is, or where he's from, we don't even know if he's from the same time as us - that dress sphere could be from years back!".

I looked around the room pleadingly - searching for an answer somewhere in this quaint little house. A stove, a fireplace, a couch, a bookcase….a bookcase! Bookcases had books in them!

I stood up. "Hey Yunie, did your dad ever have any books on dress spheres? Surely he would have used them back in the day".

Yuna slowly rose from her chair. "…Yes, he did. Sir Auron did say that they used them often to record things while on their pilgrimage. He might have had some handbooks…".

She looked over at the bookcase. "How about I look in the attic for books, and you check the bookcase? I don't really read books that much, so I'm not really sure of what we have".

I jumped up and down. "Great idea! I'll go look right now!".

Yuna disappeared down the hallway, and I darted over to the bookcase, where hopefully my answers awaited!

I began pulling books out of the shelves and flinging ones that were of no use carelessly towards the couch.

"_The Art Of Summoning", "How To Train Your Chocobo", "Catching Cactuars", "The Secrets of Spheres", "When Aeons Turn Dark-" _, wait a second, did I just see a book about spheres?

I dived onto the couch and started rummaging crazily through the sea of books. _Aha! _I pulled out a green leather-bound book titled "_The Secrets of Spheres"._

I waved it around triumphantly in the air.

"I FOUND IT!", I yelled down the hallway.

Yuna gracefully climbed down from the attic. "Hmmm, didn't find much up there, except for this". She thrust a tatty, old-looking notebook, with a scratched faded leather cover at me. I turned it over in my hand. "Huh. Interesting".

Yuna took the book from me and let her fingertips gently run along the spine of the book. "Maybe it's a diary of some sort". She carefully opened the book and looked inside. "But there's no writing in it…".

I rolled my eyes. "Yunie, while I'm so happy that you've found a nice book, I think the sphere thing is just a _teensy weensy _bit more important, don't you?".

We sat down beside each other on the couch (after Yuna made me put away all of the books _with care_), we began flicking through the index pages of the book on spheres. The book was ancient and smelled musty. Yuna flipped to the middle of the book and began reading aloud.

"_Dress spheres are very mysterious objects. Their purpose is to record the user's desired memories or series of thoughts. They have proved extremely useful for presentations as well as gifts to loved ones. They have been used for centuries by many generations, and we still use them today._

_What is extremely strange about dress spheres is that they may transport themselves to different times and eras - to places in the past, present, and indeed, the future. Nobody is quite sure what causes the spheres to act like this, however many modern scientists and sphere hunters have made many attempts to find out why, some driven to the brink of insanity in doing so._

_However, one of the spheres' greatest mysteries has been recently unveiled by a highly intelligent scientist - Dr. Spivet. The spheres have been found to possess an ability, in which the user of the sphere may be transported back to the era from which the sphere originated". _I couldn't wait any longer. I snatched the book out of Yuna's hands and quickly began reading out loud.

"_It was discovered one day while the doctor was doing an experiment in the laboratory - he had found a sphere which dated back a few centuries - and it piqued his interest. He had simply planned on trying to get a clearer projection of the sphere's recorded data, but while trying to set up apparatus, slit a cut in his wrist. It began to bleed, and while a few drops fell on the sphere, he simply continued to set up the apparatus._

_However, when his apprentice entered the room, he got a huge shock - for there was the doctor - but he was seemingly 'evaporating into thin air'! His arms began to fade, his legs - and then, he was gone, not a trace of him nor the sphere to be found. His apprentice was the only person to have witnessed this extraordinary event._

_Since then, nobody has seen or heard from Dr. Spivet. Many have tried to re-enact the events that occurred that day - but most of them just vanished into thin air - never to be seen again"._

I had read enough. I snapped the book shut, and glanced over at Yuna. Her mouth was shaped like a little 'o'.

I smiled. "So what am I waiting for?".

Yuna looked absolutely shocked. "W-what? Rikku you…you're not even possibly considering going, could you?"

I scoffed. "Yunie, there's a reason for everything, right? I found this sphere for a reason. I think I need to find this boy, and…"

Yuna threw her hands up in the air. "And do what? What's your 'great plan' this time? This isn't a game Rikku! This-", she tapped the cover of the book with her finger, "-is real! I don't care if he's cute - what if you just disappear like all of the other people who tried?"

I waved off her comment. "Puh-lease, Yunie, I'm very mature and responsible for my own actions, I can take care of myself. Besides-", I waved my cell phone in her face, "- if you get reeeeally worried about me, you can just call me, right?".

Yuna bit her lip and hugged her shoulders. "Oh Rikku, I…I don't know…".

Well I sure did. I yanked one of my blades out of my backpack, and was just about to prick my finger when Yuna cried out "W-wait!", and grasped my wrist. "Don't you want to pack some stuff? You know, like…provisions?". I nodded, and set my blade down on the table. "Yeah , good idea!"

Yuna ran upstairs and grabbed some clothes and toiletries for me (I stay over at Yuna's house so much that I just leave half of my stuff there!).

She carefully folded everything and put them in my backpack -which already had my sleeping bag and a box of cookies in it (Hey you never know when you might be hungry…).

I eyed the sphere and the two books on the table - the book on spheres and the notebook. I shoved the sphere into one of the pouches that hung off my skirt, and I put the book on spheres into my backpack.

I turned over the empty notebook in my hand. It looked like it had gotten some wear and tear, but all the pages were blank.

_Weird…_

Yuna saw me scrutinizing the book. "You know, you could probably use it as a diary or something, you know, keep a record of everything that happens while you're…away…".

She averted her gaze and turned to face the wall. I put an arm around her. "Hey, don't worry about me! Do you remember what I told you I'd do if anybody annoys me?".

Yuna sniffled. "K-kick them in the s-spleen?".

I thumped her on the back. "There ya go! No worries then, yeah?". I laughed, but it came out all weird and high-pitched. I gulped. I was super nervous, but I just…something was telling me to go for it, take the risk!

I sat back down at the table and picked up my blade, the sphere just beside my wrist. I took a deep breath.

Yuna looked worriedly at me. "You sure about this Rikku?".

I looked her in the eye, and plastered the biggest smile I could muster on my face. "Not really, but well, here goes!"

I slid the blade across the top of my finger, and watched anxiously as the blood dripped slowly onto the sphere.

I sat there for a minute. Nothing happened.

We both looked at each other. I let out an exasperated sigh. Come on, don't tell me after all of that, it's not gonna work!".

But Yuna's face was frozen into what looked like a mask of sheer horror.

I waved my hand in front of her face." Um, hello, earth to Yunie, you there?"

But then I realised why Yunie looked so scared, and I yelped.

My hand wasn't there.

And as I looked down at where my feet should have been, Yuna started screaming. I reached out to try and touch her but then I saw Yuna's disappear all around me, and I felt myself fade away completely.


	2. Chapter 2 : Zack

**=2=**

Zack

I closed the door of Director Lazard's office behind me, and sighed.

_Why wouldn't anybody tell me where Angeal was? _I slammed my fist against the

wall.

_Why did he…leave?_

I took the elevator down to the ground floor. I needed some air.

I was just walking out the door when I heard my phone beep. It was a message from

Cissnei. _I wonder if she finally decided to take up on my offer for dinner!_

It said:

_**Hey Zack, can you come down to Loveless Avenue? I heard a crashing**_

_**noise coming from inside the abandoned warehouse. I want to take**_

_**investigate. –Cissnei**_

I smirked. _She's all business_! No time for a date with me!

I slung my sword over my shoulder and started heading down towards the aquare.


End file.
